LATEST LONDON FASHIONS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1215, 14 June 1895, Page 15

LATEST LONDON FASHIONS.

From Our Own Correspondent. Regent Street, May 4th. Beefeater hats are once more being appropriated by fair ladies. As in previous assumptions they are not copied in toto from those worn by the burly Yeomen of the Guard ; the crowns are not made so deep or so clumsy ; and the outline is broken by decoration of some kind (feathers by preference) on one side ; but the general effect is much the same, and they make a very becoming and

picturesque variety in headgear, worn judiciously. In Fig. 1 our Beefeater hat is of black velvet, the brim being lined vtith salmon pink silk. A band of jetting passes round the base of the full broad crown, and on the left side, a group of three upright black ostrich tips is fastened by a jetted buckle. V/ These hats come in particularly well (being made of material) for adapting to any special costume, and can be made at home with the greatest ease and small expense on the net shapes obtainable at anj ordinary milliner’s or general draper’s shop. Cloth was the staple material for the mantle, jackets and gowns of every-day wear this winter. Not far back, the cloth jacket or mantle was something to shudder at; uncouth, defiant to appeals for grace, or amenable overtures of all kinds, and “ impossible ” garments for good dressers. Now, however, such delightfully soft, pliable and delicate cloths are made for our special wear, in such charming artistic shades, that it is “ another story.” In Fig. 2 there is a very stylish mantle of fine faced cloth in myrtle green. This garment is cut to fit the back like a glove, from the waist falling in three full folds. The fronts are loose, fastened down the centre with a double row of opossum fur which edges the whole. The cape sleeves are the principal features in this design, however, they being cut (in circular fashion) large enough to take the mammoth dress sleeves, which are becoming positive nightmares ; and long enough to

form a sufficiently warm covering for the arms, thus, with the smarter appearance obtained by a fitting jacket, securing a distinct advantage over the capes, which are so generally resorted to in desperaticn as the only help over two or three yards of sleeve on either arm. A smart collar of myrtle green velvet edged with fur forms a pleasing relief to the cloth ; and I think my readers will agree in thinking it a very happy design. Fig. 3 is also a very successful model, and an elegant costume for any smart afternoon function. For the main portion of the gown, a soft rich boucle of a deep dahlia colour is employed. All the most modish skirts are now made quite tight over the hips, and gored to still fuller dimensions round the bottom than they were last season; seven and a-half yards

being a very usual measurement. The one in question is thus cut. The broad collar is of deep dahlia velvet edged by

black fox (which also finishes the wrists), and from the collar two broadish velvet ribbons are brought to the waist, there caught by jetted buckles, and fall in loops ahd ends. '* The vest and dollar are of clove pink satin $ toning with the dahlia colour, and the costume is capped by a dahlia velvet toque* bordered by black fox, and decorated by two black mercury wings. ' i,t Pearls were the fashionable wear for evening toilettes in Paris this winter. It is a curious fact that these lovely ornaments of great price are quite humanly sensitive, and require moisture, sun and fresh air to retain their beauty as much as their wearers. If worn night after night in hot, ill-ventilated rooms, their appearance suffers as much as that of their human companions. And being kept shut up in jewel cases excluded from air, for long,at a time, has an equally deleterious effect on their colour and lustre. Roselle.